14 



DURATION OF VARIETIES OF FRUIT-TREES. 



of the latest Flemish pears already exhibit symptoms of decay or bad 

 health in these districts. Even Mr. Kenrick, with all his enthusiasm 

 for the new sorts, is obliged to make the following admission respecting 

 the Beurre Diel pear, the most vigorous and hardy here of all : " I re- 

 gret to add, that near Boston this noble fruit is liable to crack badly." 

 We predict that many of the Flemish pears originated by Yan Mods 

 will become feeble, and the fruit liable to crack, in the neighborhood of 

 Boston, in a much less time than did the old varieties. 



And this leads us to remark here, that the hardiness of any variety 

 depends greatly upon the circumstances of its origin. When a new 

 variety springs up accidentally from a healthy seed in a semi-natural 

 manner, like the Seckel, the Dix, and other native sorts, it will usually 

 prove the hardiest. It is, as it were, an effort of nature to produce a 

 new individual out of the materials in a progressive state which garden 

 culture has afforded. Cross-bred seedlings — one parent being of a hardy 

 nature, and both healthy ; such as Knight's own seedlings, the Monarch 

 and Dun more pears — are next in hardiness. Lastly, we rank varieties 

 reared by Van Mons' method — that of continually repeated reproduc- 

 tions. This, as Yan Mons distinctly states, is an enfeebling process — 

 without any compensating element of vigor. Hence it follows, as a 

 matter of course, that seedlings of the fifth or sixth generation, as are 

 some of his varieties, must in their origin be of feeble habit. Yan Mons 

 himself was fully aware of this, and therefore resorted to " grafting by 

 copulation," — in fact, root-grafting, — well knowing that on common 

 stocks these new varieties would, in light soils, soon become feeble and 

 decayed. It is needless for us to add that hence we consider the Belgian 

 mode of producing new varieties greatly inferior to the English one, 

 since it gives us varieties often impaired in health in their very origin. 



If any further proof of this is desired, we think it is easily found by 

 comparing the robust vigor and longevity of many native pear-trees to 

 be found in the XTnited States — some of them 80 or 100 years old, and 

 still producing large crops of fruit — with the delicate trees of several 

 new varieties now in our gardens from Europe. These varieties are 

 delicate not only with respect to their constitutional vigor, but they are 

 also more susceptible to injury from the severity of our winter's cold 

 and summer's sun. 



There are great advantages, undoubtedly, for soils naturally unfavor- 

 able, and for small gardens, in grafting the pear upon quince stocks ; 

 yet, as it diminishes the vigor of the tree, it is not impossible that con- 

 tinued propagation from dwarf trees may somewhat lessen the vital 

 powers and the longevity of a given variety. 



The decay of varieties of the Apricot, or Peach, much shorter lived 

 trees by nature, we seldom or never hear of. Yarieties of both are now 

 in cultivation, and in the most perfect vigor, of 200 years' duration. 

 This, probably, is owing to the more natural treatment these trees 

 receive generally. Yarieties of the vine are said never to degenerate, 

 and this is perhaps owing to their having very rarely been propagated by 

 grafting.* 



* We do not deny that in any given soil there is a period at which a variety of 

 tree or plant exhibits most vigor, and after having grown there awhile it ceases 

 to have its former luxuriance. The same is true of wheat or potatoes, and 

 accordingly farmers are in the habit of changing their seed." The nutriment 

 for a given variety is after a time exhausted from the soil, and unless it is again 



